Review of Spilled Coffee

I just received a very nice review of Spilled Coffee on author Carol Newman Cronin’s blog, Where Books Meet Boats. While this story has no sailing in it, there is a rowboat, but that has nothing to do with the review. This is what she says, in part:

"The opening scene (in a coffee shop, of course) drew me in quickly, just as I expected. Ben Hughes meets a potential love interest, drops hints about his recently ended engagement, and lets us know he’s on a curious mission involving a lakeside summer cottage, some dark personal history, and a dysfunctional family.... I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next…."

"…Once I had enough information to draw my own conclusions about the ending, I enjoyed the steady drip, drip, drip of details that were carefully woven into the narrative. With each new step back into the past (artfully marked with a pocket watch picon), the story unfolded. And then in spite of my preconceived notions, the ending completely surprised me—another reason I love Chicoine’s books."

I just love how you tied in the coffee theme throughout your review. Thank you so much Carol!

A New Title and a New Concept

So, I've been working on my next two novels—actually, they are two novels that I have had on my hard drive for the past five years. Girl Running and its sequel Protégé have undergone so many changes in the course of revising and editing. Girl Running's first draft came in at over 150k words and is now a trim 111k. It had dropped as low as 92k, but then I had an idea. Yes, ideas can be very dangerous, but this time it feels oh, so right!

I have always been intrigued with the story-within-a-story concept. I pulled it off with Uncharted: Story for a Shipwright, and even Spilled Coffee has that feel, and both those novels are written in first person as a thirty-something man. Don't ask me why, I just like that POV. At any rate, I've had some qualms about putting Girl Running out there. Yes, it does push some societal boundaries—the teacher-student relationship scenario, but that's really not what the story is about. It's not the theme, anyway. It's about stepping up and following through and finding our own way when no one else is willing to "step up" in our behalf.

So, Girl Running now has a new format—a story within a story—and a new name. The Step-Up Man. Here is what you'll read on the back cover:

In the wake of a student suicide, twelfth-grade English teacher James Grayson is second-guessing his “don't bring work home” policy, while his reluctance to commit to his girlfriend—to marry and have children—has his personal life hanging in the balance. He can't even commit to finishing one of his own novels. 

When sullen and withdrawn student Layla hands in a compelling assignment that is actually part of a larger body of work, James becomes obsessed, not only with convincing her to let him read it, but with the notion of stepping up to do the right thing by his girl-friend, his students and his writing, and how they are all intertwined. 

Layla acquiesces. James has no idea what he’s in for as she weaves a tale about 17-year-old orphaned "Leila" who needs to live inconspicuously until she graduates. Three teachers make that impossible—the handsome track coach, her math teacher from hell, and a jealous gym instructor. Compromising situations, accusations of misconduct, and judicial hearings put her autonomy and even her dignity at risk unless she learns to trust an unlikely ally. 

James guesses at which parts of Layla's novel are true and what is wishful thinking. If the "step-up man" in Layla's story turns out to be fictitious, can a cast of characters still change the way James views his own life?

Yes, it's a little long, but then, so is the story. Yeah, it's going to be a thick one. Now I need to finish editing and decide if I'm going with a smaller font (10 pt) and thus smaller page count, or make it a whopping 400+ pages. I'm also toying with the idea of two different fonts—Times New Roman for James Grayson's narration and then switching to Courier (or another typewriter font) for Layla's manuscript. What will my readers tolerate when it comes to that sort of formatting creativity?

Anyway, I hope to get these polished and published sometime this autumn, or perhaps even sooner.

Spilled Coffee Launched!

I was going to wait and post this until after all the formats are available (specifically ePub), but since word is already out (yes, I 'spilled' the beans* on Facebook), I might as well officially launch Spilled Coffee, my latest work.

I love this story. It’s a little ‘darker’ than Uncharted, in as much as it deals with more adult issues, although they are tempered through the eyes of a nearly fourteen-year-old boy, Benjamin, back in 1969—a more innocent, dare I say naïve time for someone not old enough to comprehend all the complexities of the social revolution taking place around him. Like Uncharted, I wrote Spilled Coffee in the male, first person point of view. Here’s the description from the back cover:

Benjamin Hughes is on a mission. He has just bought back the New Hampshire lake cottage his family lost eighteen summers ago, in 1969, just before he turned fourteen—just before his life blew apart.

Still reeling from a broken engagement, Ben has committed himself to relive that momentous summer for the next twenty-four hours.

Every summer as a boy, Ben has gawked at the pretty redhead Amelia, granddaughter to the richest man on the lake, Doc Burns—owner of a Cessna floatplane and the Whispering Narrows estate. During the summer of ’69, Ben not only sneaks around with Amelia, but he learns how to fly with Doc, and meets an eclectic cast of characters that will change him forever. The best summer of Ben’s life turns out to be the worst as the Burns’ family dysfunction collides with his own family’s skeletons.

Here’s where you can purchase a copy, in either trade paperback, or for your Kindle. It will soon be available for your iPad through Smashwords, but remember, there’s a Kindle app for that! If anyone is interested in a Review Copy, in either eBook, PDF, or paperback version, please e-mail me via:  bridget at jbchicoine dot com. If you like it well enough to leave a review, that would be groovy. You can also find it on Goodreads.

*yes, that would be coffee beans!

Spilled Coffee Cover

I've been picking away at each item on my To Do—that is, my To Publish list for Spilled Coffee. The cover has been in the works for months now, but I’ve finally settled on all the particulars (not that my perfectionism won’t kick in for some last-minute tweaks).

I like it—it’s kind of quirky and layered, like the story. I have also established my publishing entity: Straw Hill Publishing. Depending on how complicated my life becomes over the next couple moths, I plan to release Spilled Coffee this late spring/early summer. 

Playing Along Nicely

Yvonne Osborne, over at The Organic Writer tagged me for The Next Big Thing blog tour. I really enjoyed reading the concise breakdown of her work in progress, Black River.  Yvonne's prose is layered and lyrical--I can't wait to read the completed novel.  I don't usually do blogfests and tours, but the questions seemed straightforward enough that I could come up with some answers, seeing as I actually have a ‘next big thing’. So here goes:

• What is the working title of your next book? Spilled Coffee

•  Where did the idea come from for this book? I had in mind a snippet of a scene—a man who clumsily bumps the elbow of a woman sitting at a diner counter, spilling her coffee all over her sketchpad. From there, it was a matter of figuring out who each of the characters are and why they were in the diner.

•  What genre does your book fall under? Adult literary fiction, though a large portion has a Young Adult appeal. I guess it's a little Romancey, too.

•  What actors would you choose to play the part of the characters in a movie rendition? That’s really hard—I guess I don’t watch enough television of movies to choose anyone in particular. Any tall, quirky, attractive, dark curlyish-haired guy, and a pretty, petite curly redheaded young lady could audition for the main characters.

•  What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book? Ben Hughes buys back the lake cottage his family lost eighteen years ago, and for the next twenty-four hours, he is committed to reliving that summer when his life blew apart.

• Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I simply can’t resist fulfilling my dream of self-publishing.

•  How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? I started it back in April of 2010. It sat dormant for nearly a year—I added a few hundred words and it again sat until last winter. I wrote the bulk of 80K words over the course of a couple months—I’ve never been that productive in my life!

•  What other books would you compare this to in your genre? Oh goodness, I haven’t any idea. I guess the best I can say is it’s a coming-of-age story, and there are so many of them out there…

•  Who or what inspired you to write this book? Of course any characters, places, or situations are purely coincidental and the product of my imagination, but my husband may disagree…

•  What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? Although Spilled Coffee delves into family dysfunction, it is against the backdrop of the 1960s and experienced through the eyes of an innocent fourteen-year-old boy. Anyone who grew up during that time period will appreciate the nostalgic snapshots, yet the awkward emotions of adolescence are universal and will strike a chord with many, especially as we so often look back on those years with mixed feelings. 

I'm not sure if providing a snippet is part of the rules, but since my predecessors have done so, here's something:

The odor of rotting pine needles, decaying asphalt shingles, and mold stirs a nondescript memory—a fleeting sense of childhood—of me as a child, the innocent who had not yet gained a broader perspective. That child inserts the key and turns it. The adult, the man who understands that nothing stays the same, pushes the door open.

I'm also supposed to tag a few others--Yvonne already tagged Liza Carens Salerno, but I'm still going to! and I shall also nudge Robynne Rand (aka, Anne Gallagher) and she can fill us in on what she's up to over on her Women's Fiction blog. And finally, Jayne Ferst—A Novice Novelist, who has been working on a novel and I'm dying to find out about it!

My Big Plans

For the past month, I’ve been working on some graphics for my next novel, Spilled Coffee. Not only that, but I’ve made the decision to publish Spilled Coffee  independently, yes, self-publishing. Even before I started this blog—nearly five years ago—I was enamored with the idea of self-publishing. I’ve always had a Do-It-Yourself mindset which extends to my writing. I learned how to write by writing and researching and connecting with a few other writers. I even went so far as to format, print, and bind one of my earlier novels (I plan to resurrect this novel in the future).

My writing has come a long way, even to the point of being traditionally published, which has been a huge boost to my confidence. Not only that, but I’ve received some greatly-appreciated correspondence from some who have read Uncharted: Story for a Shipwright and really enjoyed it. Thank you so much to all those who took the time to share their thoughts!

Anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows I’m not a hard-sell—I find promotion, networking, and marketing very awkward (as do many writers). I’ve also heard it said that the best way to sell one book is by writing another…well, I can do that! In fact I’ve done that, and now it’s getting near time to put the next novel out there. I had a few works to choose from and picked Spilled Coffee as a follow-up to Uncharted. Like Uncharted, I wrote Spilled Coffee in first person point of view as a man. It’s not so much nautical, though a rowboat on a lake in New Hampshire plays a role in the story. What the two stories have in common are the thirty-something men coming to terms with their family and past. Here’s the logline, a bit of promotional art, and what you’d read on the back cover:

A Novel About Coming of Age…Again…

Benjamin Hughes is on a mission. He has just bought back the New Hampshire lake cottage his family lost eighteen summers ago, in 1969, just before he turned fourteen—just before his life blew apart.

Still reeling from a broken engagement, Ben has committed himself to relive that momentous summer for the next twenty-four hours. 

Every summer as a boy, Ben has gawked at the pretty redhead Amelia, granddaughter to the richest man on the lake, Doc Burns—owner of a Cessna floatplane and the Whispering Narrows estate. During the summer of ’69, Ben not only sneaks around with Amelia, but he learns how to fly with Doc, and meets an eclectic cast of characters that will change him forever. The best summer of Ben’s life turns out to be the worst as the Burns’ family dysfunction collides with his own family’s skeletons.

So, that’s the news for this week. Soon I will be posting the cover art I’ve been messing around with, perhaps some of the interior art,  and updates on the publication progress.

The Evolving Writer

For the past couple weeks, I’ve been scanning old family slides for my dad—thirty-some years worth. From a writer’s perspective—especially a writer who is particularly interested in character driven stories—it is fascinating to watch history unfold in old photographs. I am the objective bystander, looking in on the development of a family—my family. Not only that, but caught on film are individuals in that family. As one of seven children, it was easy to blend into the mass. We were the Scheffer Tribe. A gaggle of children, close in age.

No, I'm not the nose picker; I'm the goofy one behind Mom!

Understandably, it was difficult for others to keep us all straight, especially us three older girls (Why, oh why did Mom do that to our hair!). It was too easy to think of myself as an indistinct part of a whole. I never gave much thought to distinguishing myself as an individual; it seemed best not to stand out. Yet, in my own quiet way, I struggled to find a safe means of expressing myself (yes, I was of the children-should-be-seen-and-not-heard generation, enabling my parents to take seven moderately well-behaved children anywhere). I found that 'safe expression' of self in drawing and sewing and writing.    

 

In my author biography I mention that I have been writing since I was a kid. I recall lying awake at night, thinking up scenarios. I have memories of writing all sorts of convoluted stories and sappy poetry. I even have old notebooks packed away somewhere, filled with mysteries and romances. Today, I came across another bit of evidence that I have indeed been writing for a long time.

This photo was taken on a family camping trip in Florida, just before I turned twelve. I remember that red notebook so well…I wonder what I had been writing that day.

And I  had a real flair for fashion, don't you think?

Uncharted AudioBook Available

This is an easy post to get me back into blogging. Uncharted: Story for a Shipwright is now available in an Audible Audio Edition! at Amazon.com

I've gotta say, it's the weirdest thing, hearing my story read by someone else--by a man, in fact! Just as it should be, but strange nonetheless. Funny how I've heard Sam's voice for so long and now it has come to life, even if he's not just the way it sounds in my head. I mean really, how could it be? Just the same, this is very exciting. Kevin Scollin does a fine narration.

Meanwhile, I've been very busy...I shall soon post pictures of my new office here in New Hampshire--very fitting as it is the setting for my new, nearly ready novel, Spilled Coffee.

Coming of Age

When I search for Uncharted: Story for a Shipwright on Google, this is the first result that shows up:

Uncharted: Story for a Shipwright: J. B. Chicoine: 978193685 www.amazon.com › ... › Genre Fiction › Coming of Age

I’m not entirely certain how the algorithms work or how Amazon categorizes novels, but “Coming of Age” really jumps out at me—I hadn’t ever thought of Uncharted as a 'coming of age story', but on second thought, yes, I suppose it is. Perhaps the term has more to do with how loosely it is applied.

Wikipedia says “Coming of age is a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood.” Aspects of Uncharted—specifically, Marlena’s personal accounts—deal directly with her coming of age. But in a broader sense, (if one goes by Merriam Webster—“to reach maturity”) then the definition also fits Samuel, for although he is thirty one years old, he is finally coming to terms with his childhood and now his adulthood—finally maturing as a person.

It seems to me (and this from a meager fifty-two years of experience) that the ‘thirties’ is as much a time of transition and coming of age as is adolescence. Yes, the changes of puberty and reaching physical adulthood are momentous and highly visible, yet I don’t think it’s until one’s thirties that a person begins to grasp who they are and how they came to be. I don’t mean to get overly psychological here, but if the decade or so following adolescence establishes patterns in our behavior and thoughts, congealing into ‘adulthood’, it seems that by our thirties we are confronted with what has either been working for us or inhibiting who we’d like to be. And how did we end up with this person we look at in the mirror? Are our traits genetic, or did we learn them? Can we change the things we don’t like in ourselves? Or are we doomed to struggle with seemingly inherent weaknesses for the rest of our lives? Can we reconcile any of it and find peace with it all? Perhaps it was just me, but my thirties launched me into a great deal of introspection.

It is this introspection that I write about in my novels. I’m fascinated with the concept of ‘Coming of Age.’ Yes, I wrote about it in Uncharted without necessarily analyzing is as such. Now that I’m deep into revising Spilled Coffee, I see that it is the central theme approached from both the adolescent perspective of a fourteen-year-old boy and from his thirty-one year old self as he reflects on his formative years.

Even as I write this piece for my blog, I wonder if midlife could also be classified as another ‘Coming of Age’ episode. By now I am an established adult in my own right, but there is nothing like being in close proximity with aging parents (yes, cohabitating with them) to force another full-blown self-analysis and growth spurt—but that’s a whole ‘nother topic!

A Boatload of Inspiration!

A number of years ago, I was the recipient of a wooden model boat, handcrafted to scale. My father built it when he was a kid, using plans he found in an old Rudder or Yachting magazine from the late ’40s—the Pavana, designed by naval architect, Philip Rhodes. It has always held my fascination and when I set out to write Uncharted: Story for a Shipwright, I incorporated the refitting of a boat from that era with the Pavana in mind. I gave her a new history and renamed her Mary-Leigh, built by Buck, the old-timer shipwright of Uncharted.

In my research, I found that the Pavana still exists and bears the distinction of once belonging to L.Corrin Strong, a U.S. Ambassador to Norway. She has sailed between Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and Australia, was dry-docked in Maryland USA, and is currently undergoing refitting by a shipwright in British Columbia’s Gulf Islands, where she continues to pique the imagination.

One piece of research that continues to fascinates me is the Pavana’s log*. It captures the tail end of the pre-fiberglass, wooden boatbuilding era, with all its romance.  One of my favorite images from the log is a photograph from May 29, 1949, with the caption, ‘We serve cocktails onboard’, accompanied by a charming description of one of Pavana’s first excursions. I love the description of how ‘four youngsters of assorted ages…swarmed all over the boat but did no damage and got into no trouble’.

And this one—final inspections just before she launches:

Another is of the owner and friends, sailing at a good heel with the mizzen mast in the background.

But my most favorite photos are from an old magazine, The Chesapeake Skipper, (June 1948). They are of the Pavana (previously named Mansurah and changed before launching) under construction. Although Pavana’s builder, H. K. Lagare of the Balco Yacht Co. is pictured, I envision old Buck posing for the photograph, beaming with pride and imagining voyages and adventure.

In Uncharted, Buck’s grandson, Samuel, stuck in a rhythm of mediocrity, is restless for that adventure. Buck insists, “The sea is in your blood, surging with all its turbulence and as subject to longing and discontentment as the sea is to the tide.” Sam used to laugh it off as the romantic notions of an old man. He assumed that over the generations his seafaring blood had thinned, had been adulterated by the contented sort who stuck around. That he, a shipwright himself, would be one of the guys who married some local girl and carried on the family business, placating himself with the occasional weekend sail. As the story unfolds, he isn’t so sure. What Samuel Wesley does know is that there’s a romance to living on the water and being skilled in a trade that, for centuries, has been the backbone of the maritime industry, and the Pavana captures that romance.

* Thanks Henry Strong, grandson of L.Corrin Strong for permission to share this log. The remainder of the log may be viewed here.

UNCHARTED at the Warner Fall Foliage Festival

Well, it’s been nearly a week since I attended my very first book signing! I would have reported back sooner, but to be honest, I’ve hardly had a chance to catch a breath since we landed in New Hampshire and it has taken a few days for the fog to clear from my head.

I have to say, the whole event was far less nerve-wracking and a whole lot more fun than I had anticipated. I arrived at 11:00 in the morning and hung around for 5 hours. The weather was even so cooperative as to stay warm and hold off on rain or wind until we packed up just after 4:00. Unfortunately, I have only one picture to show for the occasion—it seems that both Todd and I ended up talking with people nearly nonstop since we arrived and forgot all about pictures until family showed up! And so, I present to you my daughter, her husband and our grandbabies! No time (or presence of mind) to pose for that picture, but I do like how someone holding the book showed up on the right hand side of the photo and I love the intent look on my granddaughter’s face as I interact with a new reader!

A bonus to doing a book signing—one I had not anticipated—is receiving feedback from a reader—an older gentleman—who took the time to look me up online and drop me an e-mail. He said that he ‘had finished the book and loved it! He said he doesn’t read romance novels very often but he asked his wife to read it also so they can discuss it!’ It doesn’t get much better than that for me!

Uncharted, Now Available in E-Book Format!

Yay! Now you can read Uncharted: Story for a Shipwright on your Kindle reader. Download it from Amazon.com

As a side point, if you have not yet purchased an eReader of some sort and are considering it, and if you still like to support your local independent book store, many of them sell eBooks through their Websites.

If you choose to purchase a Kindle, you can only download books through Amazon, which does not benefit the independent book store. I love my Kindle, but that long-term implication never occurred to me; I would have purchased a Nook, iPad or one of the other fine eReaders available. Uncharted will soon be available for those devices also. 

And of course, you can still read it in a lovely matte covered paperback--feels so good in hand! 

Rhemalda Publishing

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble.com

'Big Day' Build-up

Way back in a previous life—in my twenties—I used to manage a bridal shop. Reflecting on that time, it seems to me that looking forward to a publication date is a lot like looking forward to one’s wedding day.

Once you are engaged—that is, you've signed a publishing contract—there’s all sorts of preparations that begin. Sure, you've been dreaming about and planning it for years, but now it's real and life begins to revolve around the ‘Big Day’. The closer the ‘Day’ gets, the more stressful it becomes. ‘What if the cake doesn’t arrive on time?’ What if the edits take longer than expected? What if the flowers aren’t right? ‘What if there’s a glitch with uploading to the distributor?’ And you don’t even want to think about ‘What if the bride has put on weight! What if the gown, so painstakingly altered, no longer fits! (If you’re curious about How A Published Novel Is Like a Wedding Gown, head on over to Sia McKye’s blog where I wrote a guest post for today.)

Now that my release date has come and gone, I’m in that honeymoon phase. Although I’m enjoying it, I’m looking forward to getting back to real life and working on my next novel. More on that, soon... 

   

Uncharted: Story for a Shipwright, Officially Released!

Well, October 1st has finally arrived! That means Uncharted: Story for a Shipwright is officially released! All of this also coincides with our relocation to New Hampshire, so it’s been a very busy time and accounts for much of my online inactivity. In fact, my whole routine is undergoing significant changes and finding time to write and blog shall be an interesting challenge.

With so many things happening all at once, I have less time to obsess over my upcoming book launch and signing, which is a good thing. It will be held at MainStreet BookEnds this Saturday—the 6th—during the big Fall Foliage Festival in Warner, New Hampshire. I’ll be there at 11:00 in the morning and sticking around for the afternoon. It’s bound to be a good time, especially with my Todd joining me. I hope the weather is good and I get to meet some of you!

Meanwhile, I'm waiting for the e-book to become available. I'll post and let you know when that happens.

Embarrassing

In one week from today, I will have landed in New Hampshire—hopefully without incident! This means that until then, I’m going to be running around like—well, like when I’m hopped up on caffeine and sugar doughnuts. Actually, I wish I could sustain that sort of crazed energy, but I’m sure most of my time will consist of wandering from box to box in a daze—starting today. Fortunately, my good friend Anne Gallagher, over at Piedmont Writer, is picking up the slack for me, blog-wise.  Yeah, it’s an interview of sorts, but it contains a story that I once posted here and then took down because it was really embarrassing and I was afraid of who might read it. I’m over the embarrassment now and it’s kind of a funny story. Go have a peek if you are inclined!

And be warned, Anne has also written a lovely review for Uncharted: Story for a Shipwright that you'll have to wade through to get to my amusing anecdote.